BY-LAWS OF THE SOCIETY FOR NATURAL PHILOSOPHY
1963
Amended 1970, 1979
PREAMBLE
Society for Natural Philosophy, Inc. (hereinafter called the "Society"), nourishes specific research aimed at the unity of mathematical and physical science. It seeks to recognize and promote work of high quality. It operates through organization of selective meetings on topics of common interest to small groups of mathematicians, physicists, chemists, and engineers.
ARTICLE I
Membership
Membership in the Society for Natural Philosophy is open to any person or corporation upon and subject to regular payment of dues to be fixed by the Arrangements Committee.
ARTICLE II
Arrangements Committee
Section 1. Function. The duty of organizing meetings, and all other business proper to the Society, is discharged by the Arrangements Committee.
Section 2. Selection. Any Member of the Society not more than sixty-four years of age who has demonstrated scientific competence is eligible for election to the Arrangements Committee, subject to a possible temporary restriction stated below in Article II, Section 8. The mechanism of election is set forth below in Article IV. The Arrangements Committee shall consist of such number of persons as may be elected for membership in the manner provided in Article IV, but there shall never be less than four members at any one time, three of whom shall be Service Members.
Section 3. Term. Membership in the Arrangements Committee terminates automatically when a Member reaches the age of sixty-five or ceases to be a Member of the Society; it may terminate by resignation at any earlier time. Approximately two-thirds of the membership of the Arrangements Committee, designated as Service Members, shall serve until termination as just specified. Approximately one-third of the membership of the Arrangements Committee, designated as Governing Members, shall be elected from the Selection Committee, which is described in Article III, by the mechanism set forth in Article IV. The Governing Members shall serve for a term of three years; approximately one-third of the Governing Members shall be elected in each year, except that of the first Governing Members to be elected, approximately one-third thereof shall be elected for a term of three years, one-third for a term of two years, and one-third for a term of one year.
Section 4. Officers. The officers of the Society shall be a Chairman, Secretary, and Treasurer, elected as specified in Article IV from the persons serving from time to time as Members of the Arrangements Committee. They shall serve for a term of two years and shall not be eligible for reelection to succeed themselves in the same office, except that the first Secretary shall be elected to serve for a term of three years, so that the election of the Secretary shall always fall in a year different from that for the Chairman and Treasurer. No person shall hold more than one office at one time. If a Governing Member is elected to an office whose term exceeds his term as Governing Member, the latter term shall automatically be extended sufficiently to cover the full term of office. Any vacancy in an office of the Society by death, resignation, or otherwise, shall be filled as provided in Article IV for election of officers.
Section 5. Chairman. The Chairman shall be the chief executive officer of the Society and shall have general supervision over the business of the Society. He shall preside at all meetings of the Arrangements Committee and shall speak for the Society as occasion may demand.
Section 6. Secretary. The Secretary shall be the custodian of the Seal of the Society and in general perform all duties both incident to the office of Secretary and as expressly provided in these By-Laws. He shall record and distribute to all Members of the Arrangements Committee the minutes of each meeting of that Committee and shall be responsible for elections as described in Article IV. In or about March of each year he shall distribute to all Members of the Society current lists of the Member of the Selection and Arrangements Committees and of the Members of the Society. He shall send to each new Member of the Society a copy of these By-Laws, and should the By-Laws be amended, he shall so notify every Member of the Society.
Section 7. Treasurer. The Treasurer shall have custody of all assets of the Society and shall keep adequate and accurate accounts with respect to such assets and in general shall perform all duties incident to the office of Treasurer. In particular, he shall give regular accounting for the moneys of the Society.
Section 8. Composition by Age. If at any time the fraction of Service Members of the Arrangements Committee less than forty years of age shall fall below one-fifth of such Service Members, or that of Service Members above fifty-five years of age shall grow greater than one-fifth of such Service Members, the Secretary shall give notice of this fact to all Members of the Arrangements Committee. In the former case, no person aged forty or more years shall be eligible for election to Service Membership until the fraction of Service Members below forty rises to one-fifth or more. In the latter case, no person aged fifty-five or more years shall be eligible for election to Service Membership until the fraction of Service Members above fifty-five falls to one-fifth or less.
Section 9. Meeting of the Committee. The Arrangements Committee shall meet at least once in each calendar year, which meeting shall constitute a meeting of the directors. One-third of the board of directors, which is described in Article V, serving from time to time shall consititute a quorum for the transaction of any business at any meeting of the Arrangements Committee.
Section 10. Program Committee. Meetings of the Society shall be arranged by the Program Committee. The Program Committee shall consist in the Chairman, Secretary, Treasurer, and two additional Members of the Arrangements Committee. These last-named two shall be elected by the procedure specified below in Article IV. Likewise, one of the first additional Members of the Program Committee shall serve for a term of three years; the other for a term of one year. Thereafter each of the additional Members of the Program Committee shall be elected for terms of two years. The additional Members of the Program Committee are not eligible for re-election to succeed themselves. Should an additional Member of the Program Committee be elected to an office of the Society, a special election will be held for his former place, so as to bring the total membership of the Program Committee up to five. The Chairman shall act as chairman of the Program Committee
SELECTION COMMITTEE
ARTICLE III
Section 1. Function. The function of the Selection Committee shall be to elect, by the mechanism set forth in Article IV, the Governing Members of the Arrangements Committee.
Section 2. Composition. Any Member of the Society may become a Member of the Selection Committee by presenting to the Secretary a petition for membership signed by ten Members of the Arrangements Committee, at least six of whom are Service Members. In case the total membership of the Arrangements Committee is less than ten, signatures of approximately six-tenths of the Arrangements Committee shall be required, approximately six-tenths of whom are Service Members. A person who has served on the Arrangements Committee, upon cessation of his term on that Committee, will become a Member of the Selection Committee.
Section 3. Suspension and Termination of Membership. When a Member of the Selection Committee is elected as a Governing Member of the Arrangements Committee, his function on the Selection Committee shall be suspended until the expiration of his term on the Arrangements Committee. Membership on the Selection Committee may terminate by resignation at any time and shall terminate in any event when a Member ceases to be a Member of the Society.
ARTICLE IV
Elections
Section 1. Election to Service Membership in the Arrangements Committee. The nine directors named in the Articles of Incorporation of the Society shall be and serve as the original Service Members of the Arrangements Committee. Nomination for additional and successor Members of the Arrangements Committee must be in writing and must be signed by at least four Members of the Arrangements Committee, one of whom shall submit to the Secretary a detailed description of the qualifications of each candidate, in a number of copies equal to the number of Members of the Arrangements Committee. After a delay of not more than one month, the Secretary shall mail copies of this material to all Members of the Arrangements Committee. Not less than three months and not more than six months after the mailing of the written qualifications, the Secretary shall mail to all Members of the Arrangements Committee secret ballots which they are directed to return, voting for or against admitting to Service Membership on the Arrangements Committee the candidate or candidates whose names appear thereon. Each ballot shall carry a reminder that scientific competence is the only criterion to be applied in reaching a decision. A candidate will be admitted if the number of favorable votes cast for him is at least seventy-five percent of the ballots returned and also at least sixty percent of the total membership of the Arrangements Committee. The Secretary shall straightway notify successful candidates of their election, and at least once every six months he shall send to all Members of the Arrangements Committee a list of the new Members elected since the last notification.
Section 2. Election to Governing Membership in the Arrangements Committee. At a specified time each year, the Secretary shall mail to each Member of the Selection Committee a ballot, giving notice thereon of the number of current vacancies on the Arrangements Committee. This ballot will be accompanied by a list of all eligible Members of the Selection Committee. The Members of the Selection Committee will then write on their ballots names from this list, not exceeding the number of such vacancies. The persons receiving the highest number of votes will be considered elected and will be so notified by the Secretary. In the case of a tie, the Secretary shall submit the names of the tied candidates to a deciding vote of the Service Members of the Arrangements Committee.
Section 3. Election of Officers. Any Member of the Arrangements Committee may declare his candidacy for any office of the Society or may be nominated by any other Member of the Arrangements Committee. In case no nomination for a particular office is received by the time of an election, the Chairman and the Secretary then serving will each nominate one Member of the Arrangements Committee as a candidate for such office. If only one nomination has been received, the Chairman will nominate one additional candidate who is a member of the Arrangements Committee. Nominations must be sent to the Secretary, who will conduct the annual elections by secret mailed ballots. The officers shall be elected by the Members of the Arrangements Committee. For each office, a candidate receiving a majority, of the total number of votes cast, but not less then sixty percent of the total membership of the Arrangements Committee as then constituted, shall be considered to be elected. If no candidate for office receives such a majority a further mail ballot will be conducted for the two candidates for such office having received the largest number of votes. On this further ballot the candidate receiving a majority of votes cast will be deemed elected. In the case of a tie, the Secretary shall cast the deciding vote. The election of officers shall be held annually at such time as the Chairman shall determine, but not less than approximately one year after the preceding election. The officers of the Society when elected from time to time shall hold office until the next elections and until their successors are elected and qualified.
Section 4. Election to the Program Committee. The two additional Members of the Program Committee specified in Article II, Section 10, shall be elected by the same procedure as laid down in Article IV, Section 3, for election of officers.
Section 5. Consent of Candidates, Conflicts. No person's name shall be placed without his consent on any ballot as specified in Sections 3 and 4, and no person shall be a candidate simultaneously for more than one of those offices or memberships.
ARTICLE V
Directors
Section 1. The property, business, and affairs of the Society shall be managed by a board of directors, which shall consist in the Officers of the Society and the Service Members of the Arrangements Committee of the Society serving from time to time; the directors named in the Articles of Incorporation shall act as such during their terms as such Service Members of the Arrangements Committee or until their successors are duly elected and qualified in the manner provided in Article IV of these By-Laws for election of such Service Members. The number of the directors shall vary from time to time as the number of Service Members of the Arrangements Committee many vary as provided hereinabove in these By-Laws.
Section 2. The directors shall meet for the transaction of any business that may come before the meeting, at such times and places, within the State of Maryland or elsewhere, as may be determined by the Program Committee, but shall meet at least annually.
Section 3. One -third of the directors serving as such from time to time constitute a quorum for the transaction of any business at any meeting of directors.
Section 4. Each director shall be entitled to one vote.
ARTICLE VI
Meetings of the Society
Section 1. Attendance. Only Member of the Society or persons invited in writing by a Member of the Arrangements Committee may attend meetings of the Society.
Section 2. Frequency. The Program Committee shall arrange at least one meeting in each calendar year. Any Member of the Society may suggest an additional meeting for each calendar year if he is willing to organize it, subject to the approval of the Program Committee.
Section 3. Nature. Each meeting of the Society will concern a specified topic, narrower than the scope of the Society but not confined to the interests of a single organized profession.
Section 4. Local Committee. In the case of a meeting held at an institution, the Chairman will appoint two representatives of that institution to serve pro tem on the Program Committee in all matters concerning that particular meeting.
ARTICLE VII
Publications
Other than announcements of meetings and appropriate personal communications, the Society shall not publish any material. In particular, it shall not issue either a periodical or volumes containing the proceedings of meetings, nor shall it give its approval to any periodical or volume.
ARTICLE VIII
Adoption of By-Laws
These By-Laws shall be submitted for ratification to the directors of the Society and when approved by a majority of the directors shall be considered to be the valid and adopted by-laws of the Society.
ARTICLE IX
Amendments to By-Laws
If twenty Members of the Arrangments Committee, or a number equal to two-thirds of its membership as constituted from time to time, whichever is smaller, signify in writing to the Secretary their approval of proposed amendments to these By-Laws, or additional By-Laws, the Secretary shall submit such amendments or additional By-Laws, with a delay of not more than three months, to a vote of all Members of the Arrangements Committee as then constituted. If three-quarters of the Members of the Arrangements Committee vote in favor of the proposed amendments or additional By-Laws, these shall be submitted to a second vote, not less than six months and not more than one year later. If again three-quarters of the Members of the Arrangements Committee as then constituted vote in favor of the proposed amendments or additional By-Laws, they shall be considered to be adopted and shall be part of the By-Laws of the Society.
ARTICLE X
Corporate Seal
The seal of the Society shall be circular in form with the words "Society for Natural Philosophy, Inc., 1963 Maryland" thereon.
ARTICLE XI
Fiscal Year
The fiscal year of the Society shall be the calendar year.
ARTICLE XII
Checks, Notes, Contracts, Etc.
Section 1. Contracts, notes deeds, leases and similar instruments shall be executed on behalf of the Society by any one of the officers of the Society. The seal of the Society may be affixed to any instrument requiring it and may be attested by any officer of the Society.
Section 2. All checks, drafts, or other orders for the payment of money shall be signed by any one of the officers of the Society.
ARTILCE XIII
Dues and Attendance Charges
Dues for membership in the Society and/or charges for attendance at meetings of the Society shall be imposed in such amount as may be determined from time to time by a majority of the Arrangements Committee.